CRUNCHER CRACKS THE NUT

There was action aplenty in an afternoon of hard-hitting banger racing at the Norfolk Arena, King’s Lynn on Sunday, 9 December. A big field of unlimited bangers contested their annual pre-Christmas championship, the Nutracker, where 119 Davey ‘Cruncher’ Cox prevailed. While the smaller 1500 bangers were in action in the prestigious National Championship, a title claimed by Norwich’s 601 Chris ‘Bling’ Medler. 1300 stock cars completed the bill and provided their usual brand of thrills and spills.

 

Over 50 of the big unlimiteds were in the pits, with some terrific machinery amongst them. With the annual Pre-1970 title also on the card as part of the Nutcracker meeting, there was an excellent display of the older cars. Amongst them was an amazing five Rover P5s plus a couple of P4s for the returning 581 Simon Fixter and 730 Deane Mayes. 280 Simon Goodale returned his Triumph Stag while there were also two more usual-fare Triumphs. 85 James Ellis campaigned the Westminster that had already seen action twice in the hands of partner Danielle Hewitt, while 282 Bobby Daniels returned a Rolls Royce. Completing the bill were 825 Luke Preece’s superb Daimler Hearse that had failed to make the track on its previous visit to Lynn and a stunning Jaguar 420 in the hands of 273 Kevin McClagish.

 

Top machinery was not just confined to the Pre-70 runners though. An incredible five Mk2 Granada Limousines also saw action in the hands of 143 Paul Russell, 170 Darren Teale, 321 Andrew Newton and very smart fresh efforts from running mates 370 Mark French and Ellis. Top marks to the latter, along with Newton, Goodale, 5 Mo Crowson, 22 Dave Vincent and Mayes for turning out cars in both unlimited classes. Indeed points title protagonists Vincent and Mayes brought 1500s along too – a superb effort from both.

 

The unlimited action kicked off with a heat for the Pre-70 runners, with 14 cars on track. Ellis immediately made a beeline for Preece, spinning him twice on his way to the entertainers award. Crowson ran away with things out front, winning by a country mile.

 

The same 14 cars were joined by 70 Charlie Cunningham, whose Jaguar XJ looked a touch modern compared with its competitors, in the Pre-70 final. Cunningham, who was making a welcome return to the track after many years of absence, appeared to be a target for many, spun first by Fixter. Meanwhile 780 Simon Sparrow (P5) delayed Preece enough for Ellis to finally nail his target. 267 Martin French (P5 coupe) and McClagish joined the melee, bringing out the red flags.

 

The restart was aborted when Cunningham conducted the rolling lap at race speed, but not before McClagish finished his super-smart Jag off with a hit on Sparrow. On the resumption, Crowson immediately took up the running and raced to the win by a very large margin, only to be docked two places for jumping the start. The fact he was already with the white tops from his blue grade start position when the green flag waved meant the Flying Crow had little grounds for complaint.

 

That promoted 313 John Cullingford (P5) to the win, keeping the Unlimited Pre-70 title in the Bad News family for the third consecutive year. 22 Dave Vincent (ex-Charlotte Whitaker P5) followed him home, while last year’s winner Goodale was the only other finisher.

 

The first race for the remainder of the unlimited entry saw 40 cars on track. 299 Dale Locker (Mk2 Granada) kicked things off with a big hit on Teal. The action kept on coming, especially on the power station bend where 549 Phil Smith (Volvo) couldn’t resist Locker’s wounded machine. Russell put in 185 Polly Reade (Volvo) in the same place, while 100 Callum White (Lexus) added 960 Ross Winsor (Scorpio) to the pile.

 

The visit of five Gladiators was a welcome one and in addition to the action mentioned above, they managed to completely obliterate 338 Terry Garrod, who was making a rare unlimited appearance in a Mk3 Granada, on the back straight. 122 James Woodley (Volvo) took the win from Goodale (Lexus) and 247 Lee Clarke (Lexus).

 

The second heat fielded a still very healthy 33 cars and saw an early stoppage for 851 Adam Storr (Jaguar) to receive assistance following a big hit on the road turn by Clarke. On the restart a fantastic wrecking train developed on turn four, featuring 206 Phil Milner (Scorpio), 791 Nicky Young (Omega), Clarke, White, 790 Nathan Young (Omega) and 533 Richard Coe (Volvo). 791 ‘Spud’ and 206 ‘Turkish’ eventually managed to free themselves, with the former completing a couple of laps before rejoining the back of the train. He was joined by Mayes (Scorpio) on the run-down lap after 65 Shaun Randell (Granada) had taken the flag from 269 Dean French (Volvo) and Ellis.

 

The all-in final for the Nutcracker featured a number of the pre-70s amongst its 30 cars and kept up the levels of action. Another train on the power station bend featured Coe, 579 Gary Beecham (Granada) and 267 French’s Rover P5. The latter was to take an enormous hit from 390 David Gibson’s Toyota Supra. With the P5 well folded to the cage, red flags were immediately called for, but French was thankfully able to exit his wreck unaided.

 

At the head of the race, late arrival 340 Wesley Freestone (Volvo) led much of the proceedings before his engine let go. That allowed Ellis to take up the running and at it looked as though he might achieve the unusual feat of winning a race – and a final at that – in a limousine. 119 Davey Cox (Volvo) was catching though and swept through when Ellis butted heads with the spun 401 Steve Hemmings (P5). That allowed Cox to reclaim the title he had won two years earlier, ahead of Ellis and 800 Tom Hannah (Mk2 Granada).

 

A lively 10-car destruction derby rounded off proceedings for the unlimiteds, with the Bad News and Gladiator crews particularly entertaining.

 

For the 1500 Bangers, the National Championship was the big race of the day – and of the year, with a history stretching back 20 years to when it started life as the Bangerstox World. Nearly 50 cars were present, with 18 cars lining up in the last chance qualifier. A fairly quiet race was enlived by a monster coming together on the back straight between 818 Lewis O’Keefe and former World Champion 361 Chris Walden.

 

145 Daniel Bullock limped across the line with an ailing engine in his very smart car, taking the win from 317 Nick Wakeham and 11 Ryan Leeks. 785 Brendan Bird was next home after damaging his steering while challenging Wakeham for the lead.

 

All seven finishers advanced to the championship race where they were joined by the seeded entrants from the home promotion, RDC and Spedeworth in a grid of just under 30 cars. 887 Liam Stark drew pole position with team-mate 601 Chris Medler alongside. 376 Jason Farthing and 912 Kieran Greenway made up row two while 886 Lewis Stark and 69 Johnny Wilkinson completed the top six starters, leaving a number of the fancied runners further back.

 

While several were caught up in each of two big first lap pushes from the pack, and World Champion 399 Jonny Atkin’s race ended in a smoky engine blow-up, Medler raced into an early lead and never looked back. Reigning champion 328 Daniel Lathan drove a superb race from row eight, picking off those in front at will and clearly the fastest car out there. With three laps to go he was second to Medler, a few lengths back and closing fast. As they crossed the line to start the last lap it was just a couple of lengths, but try as he might, the Hogs racer just couldn’t quite get close enough to challenge. The eventual gap was barely a quarter of a car length as Medler held on for a well-deserved first major title. Credit to Lathan too for coming so close to retaining his title. Wilkinson drove a strong race to third ahead of 338 Terry Garrod, both turning out smart cars for the occasion. 525 Wes Starmer and Wakeham rounded out the top six.

 

Two allcomers races continued the excellent day – and run of form in recent weeks – for Team Starky as both were won by orange cars. The 36-car first was taken by 886 Lewis from 391 Ben Gibson and 396 Graham Hyla, while carnage on the first bend saw 76 John Gavin in particular pick up some huge damage. 443 Justin Warren scooped the race entertainer award for multiple follow-ins.

 

887 Liam Stark swept past brother Lewis on the final bend to claim the 20-car second allcomers which saw Wilkinson ‘caged’ by multiple big hits and 392 Sam Baines named the entertainer. Eight then managed to repair for the traditional end to proceedings of a destruction derby.

 

An excellent December turnout of 24 cars were in action for the 1300 saloon stock cars, including a number of newcomers. 241 Beau Southgate raced a Nova, 562 Terry Scruton an ex-Pearce Nova and 781 Scott Sparrow turned out a very smart Corsa. Superstock racer 28 Tom Grief was in a Starlet, while 409 Carlos Pears, better known for his exploits in bangers and F2 stock cars, was in another Nova. Meanwhile it was a warm welcome back for 216 Dan Booth and 473 Dean Moat racing at Lynn in their new roof colours for the first time.

 

All 24 made it on track for heat one where Pears looked set for a dream debut. He dominated the race from his surely under-graded white roof start, only to be caught out by the spun 653 Gemma Rainer on the very last bend. That allowed Southgate through for an impressive win ahead of 569 Kev Wales and 673 John Moat.

 

Pears made no mistake second time around, claiming an easy win from Southgate and 447 Richard Hampshire. While in the final the former Stinkbridge pilot took the flag again, Hampshire second this time. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Yorkshire’s Pears though as he survived a half-spin inflicted by the backmarking 42 Jake Jackson on the last bend. Jackson still succeeded in causing mayhem, taking John Moat out of his second place before the latter recovered to third, ahead of the day’s top point scorer, Southgate.

 

It was impressive performance from Pears and bodes well for the 2013 campaign at the world final venue, should he choose to turn out regularly. Before then, the 1300s have their last outing of the season on 30 December, where they will be joined by Reliant Robins, lady bangers and the micro bangers in a team event.